Amani Amri, a Ph.D. student of the RITM laboratory at Université Paris-Saclay, supervised by Professor Pascal Corbel, will defend her Ph.D. thesis entitled “Experts and expertise management in an instable R&D organisation,” on September 23, 2026. The PhD defense will be held at 9:30 AM in the Gaudemet Room (Building D of the Jean Monnet Faculty).

Composition of the jury:

  • Patrick GILBERT, Full professor Emeritus, IAE Paris-Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne – Reviewer
  • Thomas LOILIER, Full Professor, University of Caen – Reviewer
  • Cécile BELMONDO, Full Professor, IAE Lille – Examiner
  • Lise GASTALDI, Associate Professor at Aix-Marseille University – Examiner
  • Bérangère SZOSTAK, Full professor, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines – President

PhD Thesis Abstract: Innovation and knowledge management issues are often associated with a central figure within organizations: the expert. Endowed with distinctive competencies, experts play a critical role in innovation processes. Although they represent a small population, their contribution can prove decisive, particularly when organizations face complex strategic decisions (Dejoux & Thévenet, 2012). Despite possessing the technical and scientific knowledge on which companies’ strategic positioning is based, the role of experts remains underexplored in the academic literature and largely absent from organizational practices.

This research focuses on the pharmaceutical industry, a sector whose core activities rely heavily on the development of science-based products and technologies. In this context, the competitive advantage of companies strongly depends on the ability of experts to contribute to innovation.
The main objective of this study is thus to analyze not only the role of experts within research and development (R&D) departments, but also how they are managed. We seek to understand how these experts—operating in an increasingly complex technological environment characterized by the rapid renewal of skills—contribute to innovation processes within organizations. To address this research question, we adopted a qualitative approach based on a case study conducted in Sanofi’s R&D division. A total of 84 semi-structured interviews were carried out with experts, their managers, and human resources professionals. This study provides a comprehensive characterization of the R&D expert profile, while clearly distinguishing it from closely related roles, particularly that of the specialist. It further refines the concept of expertise in R&D by clarifying its defining attributes and scope. In addition, five core roles of the R&D expert are identified, emphasizing their contribution to decision-making, the resolution of complex problems, project management, innovation processes, and knowledge sharing within the organization.